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Rags to Riches

Rather than bury the details and pics in my other thread, "Rides Again", I wanted to start a new thread for the truck because I am so dang proud of it. I hope that is okay.

So, here is a list of the original parts: A arms and A arm suspension pins

And the list of replaced and upgraded parts: EVERYTHING else. And I mean everything including hardware. Right down to the the e-clips on the steering king pins.

Sorry about the bright light on these. It's really sunny out.

That about wraps up the rebuild. Only thing left to replace is the wheel hex nuts and switch to 32p gears. I got a set of aluminum hexes and the gears on the way. Once I get the hang of driving with the power of the new BL system and 2s lipo, I will get the 3s in there and open her up!!!!

Coolest thing is I had enough parts to build another stampede for my 12 year old son. Brushed set up for him though.

You could drop the body down a bit. It will help your stability when you put the 3s in. Of you want the look of the jacked up body, dying the chassis will add to all of the black on the truck 8)

I do plan on dropping the body by at least an inch. I kinda wished I had bought the black chassis when I did the rebuild, and later did but that ended up on my sons truck, which I built after I had this one in roller already. I could always swap them I spose.

The tires are RedCats 2.2 Crawler tires that come stock on a RedCats Rockslide RS10 XT. Very soft. Rims are RPM revolvers. The tires are very similar I think to Proline Moabs, but a ton cheaper

Yeah a wheelie bar and tie it up with a zip tie. You will see, it is stronger .
Also if you are bashing really hard, like skte parc etc. you may wnat stiffer springs at the back and a 40w oil in the shocks.
Have fun tweaking, the joys of having your own built...just pricelss.
Great

Those are the only two I see for sale now. Might also try to find a RedCats dealer in your area as these are the stock tires that come on their crawlers trucks. RedCat RS10 Crawler Tires would be a good search term but besides those two links I can't really find much on them now. Was in the right place at the right time.

Yep got it, like I said...I had later ordered the black one for for son's pede after I had mine in full roller and decided to build him one out of what I either upgraded off my truck or from parts I had gotten in parts lots I bought off ebay. I might get around to switching them over the weekend. having some issues with his Tx and ready to pull all my hair out about it so maybe tearing the trucks down to swap chassis will take my mind of that to think for a minute....if that makes sense.

Had a good bash run this morning with both trucks except for an issue that is mildly irritating and shouldn't be happening. The 2 grub screws that hold the MIPS output yokes keep backing out and the yoke ends up falling out. Done it three times now and luckily I haven't lost it so far. When I installed them I actually them sit for 24 hours vs. The 6 the instruction say to. This last time I switched the thread locker to automotive grade from permatex. Hopefully that will hold. Made double sure the grub screw holes were lined up with the output shaft bores and ran the set screws in as far as they would go. Course I took those precautions before so we'll see.

I wonder if a longer set screw would be best. Something that would go all the way through both bores and the shaft hole instead of a set screw on each side. Thought?

So I dropped the body and actually like how it looks better than jacked up sky high. Only concern I have is how close this mod dropped the bed of the body on top of the esc. I can't get a finger in between the top of it and the underside of the body. Has anyone cut a hole in the bed above their esc so it can breath? Seems like a good idea.

And I still have to find a solution to the set screws backing out of the yokes. Although I have not tested the permatex thread lock yet so I can't say for sure if that's the fix. Unfortunately its on the right side so I have to take all that stuff apart to get at the yoke.

yes try the permatax
just make sure you have the yoke clean and dont use a howl lot or you will glue the cup to the out put shaft....provideing that there is no grease/oil on the shaft

Made double sure with the permatex application that everything was clean. Weird that the left side is holding tight. I'll take it out for a run tomorrow afternoon. I applied it today about noon so that should be plenty of time for it to cure. I really want to get this ironed out so I can start using the 3s. It was mentioned that soon as I switch to my 3s I will find weakness.... quick. Trying my hardest to find everything with the 2S first. So far it's just those stupid set screws.

I have ran with the body touching the esc, but now a days I leave about a 1/4" gap, and that's on the nephews captain curse, as the other mj's have higher body sections above the mounting plate. Most peeps like to get the bottom of the sides of the body even with the bottom of the chassis for a sweet lookin stance. You can always make yer chassis black with some rit dye and boiling water. Theirs threads on how to do it in the forums somewhere heh. I keep saying im gonna do it to my sl4shMT but I really don't feel like taking everything off the chassis when its usually covered in dirt anyway. Yer trucks lookin good.

Not to go off topic, but yeah I understand being proud of something. Hey man its a great feeling to be able to look at something and know what you have accomplished with it. Since I got back into the hobby I have went to sleep many nights thinking about my 2pede and what I have done or going to do with it, and waking up,just this side of giddy cause I get to look at it again.

Back on topic all I got to say Sweet ride man, you got a lot to be proud of.

I have ran with the body touching the esc, but now a days I leave about a 1/4" gap, and that's on the nephews captain curse, as the other mj's have higher body sections above the mounting plate. Most peeps like to get the bottom of the sides of the body even with the bottom of the chassis for a sweet lookin stance. You can always make yer chassis black with some rit dye and boiling water. Theirs threads on how to do it in the forums somewhere heh. I keep saying im gonna do it to my sl4shMT but I really don't feel like taking everything off the chassis when its usually covered in dirt anyway. Yer trucks lookin good.

It is ALOT of work taking everything off the chassis but man its totally worth it when you get it done. Its really easy to do

I use a plastic bucket to dye my parts in. What I do is boil a couple quarts of water to a hard rolling boil pour it into the bucket add the rit dye, stir it in and add the parts I want to dye let sit for 15 or 20 minutes and take the parts out and let them air dry. You do want to make sure and have some latex gloves on hand and if your container isn't big enough you may have to pull the chassis out and flip it over.

Good bye bent king pins and chewed up wheel hex's. Funny thing is I only had 2 runs (neither of which I went all the way through a battery due to mips issues) on the stock plastic steering casters and king pins. When I replaced them with these puppies the left king pin was bent pretty good, to the point it was spreading the caster apart away from the bearing carrier. Also put on the aluminum wheel hex's.

Front and rear end coming off tonight and the chassis is getting dyed black. You guys talked me into it.

Accepting requests for bashing at GREENWOOD BASHPLEX in Pittsburgh PA!! Check the thread in the track buddy forum and reply there or pm

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13,622

you may want to put a nut on the camber link screw that goes through the top of the c-block. I see no thread lock there, and that will loosen and fall out. A nut will guarantee that the screw stays put.

Got a question for you rag6. When I installed these the STRC casters I unscrewed the camber links and steering turnbuckles from the stock plastic ones of course, but when I got these on and reconnected the camber links and turnbuckles the right side had some pretty severe toe in....at least 6 degrees for a rough estimate, I didn't measure but when I looked straight down on the tires the left was straight and the right was toed in. I didn't remove either of them from their anchor points, (shock tower, steering servo saver) or adjust them in any way. Any idea why it would be so far off? Aren't the STRC casters (p/n ST3632B) direct replacements for TRA 3632? I double checked my assembly and everything is right side up and where it should be. I adjusted the steering turnbuckle to even it out and I have full turning ability without binding. Thought maybe you might know why that could be out of whack.

I think the aluminum turnbuckles are slightly longer then the plastic stock ones, like wise the camber link to.
I had to adjust both so that the angles were right. Evere isnce had no problems with the steering components, how ever I may puchase the VXL camber and turn buckles , they are appernetly stronger then the alu. My kid and I managed to snap two of his camber links.

I think the aluminum turnbuckles are slightly longer then the plastic stock ones, like wise the camber link to.
I had to adjust both so that the angles were right. Evere isnce had no problems with the steering components, how ever I may puchase the VXL camber and turn buckles , they are appernetly stronger then the alu. My kid and I managed to snap two of his camber links.

That's just it, before I changed the casters from the stock plastic I had the alum turnbuckles and camber links already installed and was running with them in perfect tune. I changed tho alum casters and the toe in was all out of whack. All I did was unbolt the turnbuckle and camber link from the stock plastic caster and install the alum caster and rebolt the turnbuckle and camber link. Never touched the anchor points to the shock tower or servo saver nor did I adjust either link. And before the swap everything was straight.

Now I noticed today that the same side that had the severe toe in after replacing the caster also seems to be binding and not spinning as freely as the other side....so I don't have any idea what is going on. Everything is seated right and tightened. If I back off the wheel lock nut I can free it up some but that shouldn't be. The other side is nice and tight and spins great. Not sure what happened here.

Success!! The permatex held on the mips and I got through a fully charged 5000mAH 30c 2S lipo battery. Mostly offroading on loose and crushed gravel with areas of sand and some puddles an some good sized rain ruts. No real jumps where we were but it was fun as heck. Had a great time bashing around and spanking my brother's Helion. His may be 4wd but it's bone stock brushed. Didn't stand a chance against my Stampede.....until;

This was the result of an at least 20-25mph (maybe faster...I think I was in full squeeze, it all happened so fast) impact to the side of a brick building. How this part, and only this part broke the way it did is beyond me. Everything else is still intact, tight, and straight. Something to be said for RPM wide front bumpers. Kind of a bummer, all the spare parts I have and this isn't one of them. But, I have to say as hard as I beat on it this run and this is all that broke....well I call it success anyway.

My kid had his Stampede stocker along and had a good time until the back of his truck got clippped by one of us and it yanked the positive power lug out of his motor. I set him up with a Atomiks modified 17T double wound and Duratrax 12T Modified esc Easy fix but decided not to do it trackside so my brother ran the rest of my kid's battery pack in his truck. Good Times. All the hard work I put into my truck was rewarded I think.

Agreed, rc's are fun, working and upgrading em is fun too. Seeing the results with others enjoying them as well is even more fun. Some of my best times is when my nephews try to run down my digger with their mutt and curse trucks

Accepting requests for bashing at GREENWOOD BASHPLEX in Pittsburgh PA!! Check the thread in the track buddy forum and reply there or pm

Posts

13,622

I have no idea how one side was toed in??? Strange... Now that you have it aligned, take the camber links off and measure. If they are the same length after you adjusted it, then somehow 1 got shortened while it was off the truck... Or, the bent c-block was throwing it off somehow, but 6° off would be really mangled.

I would break the front end completely down and inspect the front of the chassis(especially), the ft bulkhead, and ft shock tower very closely. All of those parts could have flexed enough to break that skid, but there could be hidden damage under those parts. I had a ft bulks screw snap off in a bulk and my ft tower was cracked 1/2 way through in the middle(hidden under the chassis)in a hard ft impact that broke a skid, and did not know until a week later...

As far as the wheel spinning free... If I crank my ft rims on, they will bind. I just tighten until they start to bind and then back off till they dont. Could you be missing a teflon washer on the axle that is spinning free when you crank it down?

Yea, it's nice to kick back and check out a job well done. Tough truck - looks great Fixx...love the tire, wheel combo...............Jealous of that brushless motor...... I like the lowered body look, keep it upright!

Jezza, been meaning to ask what you mean by using a zip tie. Not sure I'm envisioning what you are talking about. The biggest problem I'm having with my wheelie bar is the locking "knuckles" come off the ladder at my desired angle of wheelieness.....if that makes any sense. I also have a problem with the tracks coming off where it slides onto the bottom of the transmission. They just kinda pop off and tweak the whole assembly. Can you elaborate on what you mean by using a zip tie? Wondering if what you are talking about will correct one or both of my problems.

Accepting requests for bashing at GREENWOOD BASHPLEX in Pittsburgh PA!! Check the thread in the track buddy forum and reply there or pm

Posts

13,622

You can use a zip tie to make the wheelie bar stay together. Set the wheelie bar to the setting you want, then use a zip tie to hold it together at that setting. I have used 2 zips down the center of the assembly (from the rear) to keep the knuckles from popping off. Kinda like this. (i know this is a diff truck, but works the same way.)

Jezza, been meaning to ask what you mean by using a zip tie. Not sure I'm envisioning what you are talking about. The biggest problem I'm having with my wheelie bar is the locking "knuckles" come off the ladder at my desired angle of wheelieness.....if that makes any sense. I also have a problem with the tracks coming off where it slides onto the bottom of the transmission. They just kinda pop off and tweak the whole assembly. Can you elaborate on what you mean by using a zip tie? Wondering if what you are talking about will correct one or both of my problems.

The zip tie will stop the "knuckles" from coming off 99% of the time and will do nothing for the bolded problem. If anyone has a solution to this let us know. Very irritating.

The zip tie will stop the "knuckles" from coming off 99% of the time and will do nothing for the bolded problem. If anyone has a solution to this let us know. Very irritating.

I too have this problem. The two bolts pulled threw the bottom plastic bracket. I used two part epoxy to glue it together. It's been drying overnight. Have not tried it yet. I expect that it won't last long and I'll have to replace the bracket.

OPPS! My bad. This is on my 4x4 Stampede, not my 2wd. There is a difference.

The zip tie will stop the "knuckles" from coming off 99% of the time and will do nothing for the bolded problem. If anyone has a solution to this let us know. Very irritating.

Okay so, the zip ties have stopped the knuckles from popping off as advertised. Really wish there was a solution other than epoxy to fix the bracket popping off. Seems to happen on landings in the grass when the back end bottoms out. It has to be because I have to dig dirt and grass out before I can pop it back on. I stood my shocks up to position 1 on the A-Arm and put 40w oil in them but it still bottoms out. and that isn't a great solution cuz it don't handle so well in the corners. I have the big bores with white progressive springs but the motor is too heavy so the ***** end bottoms out on a landing. I've stopped jumping on pavement because of that.

Seems to me there must be a cheap backyard fix. Just gotta stare at it for awhile and let the gears turn in the old noggin. Initial thought is a few screws and a bracket of sorts that would tie the brackets together. Maybe part of and old skid plate. Hmm..might be onto something.

IF u think that its going to be a LOOOOONG time till you have to remove the bracket to get at something inside the transmission, u can glue those sides of the bumper bracket from popping off. I did this on my nephews pede and it was awesome for 6 months, till I had to get inside his transmission, ugg. Or u could go to an rpm rear bumper mount, my other nephews pede has it and it does the job good, but he has slash skids anyway which have those raised grooves to help protect the bottom from hitting real hard anyway.

Mine only comes off on the right side. I have been thinking about trying to drill a very small hole through the bracket and motor plate and screwing them together. Just have have not gotten to it yet. I don't want to buy a new wheellie bar because I have three trucks and I try to keep all the parts the same so I can keep spares on hand easier.

Be careful if/when u decide to drill the right side, on my digger I did an excellent job, on my nephews curse, so far im 0 for 2, he has ripped out 2 screws on that side. He doesn't care since hes 9 , but it annoys the heck outta me, heh.